S01.E02: Au revoir, le double dong

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Doug courts his usual advertisers, while Joyce looks for more conventional companies to do business with. Bambi looks to channel her newfound feminism into a new role.

Dropping Thursday, March 17, 2022 on HBOMax.

[AnimeMania]

S01.E02: Au revoir, le double dong

Doug courts his usual advertisers, while Joyce looks for more conventional companies to do business with. Bambi looks to channel her newfound feminism into a new role.

Original Airdate: March 17, 2022

Idara Victor,   Lennon Parham,   Oscar Montoya,   Jessica Lowe

Mia Ford,   Michael Angarano

[Corgi-ears]

As with most shows set in the past nowadays, this didn't seem that interested in writing historically accurate dialogue. Given that film theorist Laura Mulvey only published her essay in 1975, it is unlikely that Joyce would be throwing around the inverse phrase "female gaze" four years before that; likewise, in the previous episode, it took me out of things to hear the expression "right side of history." But the clothes are on-point, and the (naked) bodies actually look like 70s bodies. And yeah, the plot, the entire scenario, and the characters were all pretty compelling. I liked it!

Edited March 17, 2022 by Corgi-ears

[peachmangosteen]

I loved it. I already like every single character.

[Starchild]

16 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I loved it. I already like every single character.

I came here to say exactly the same thing. This is the first time I've ever watched a show (and I've watched a LOT) where, by 30 minutes in, I loved every character.

This is gonna be great!

[Lola82]

I find Jake Johnson to be extremely likable so I like this portrayal of a sleazy porn producer with a heart of gold. The actress playing Joyce gives me serious Linda Cardellini vibes.

This looks like a promising show, hope it stays as good as these first 2 episodes.

 

[Irlandesa]

I enjoyed these.  I don't care if it's period accurate.  I think it's more about the spirit of it all. 

Jake Johnson is pitch perfect.  Joyce could get annoying if they keep beating the same note with her but it's early and I hope she will grow.  The actress is good, though.

And one of the parts I liked the most is how open the sister is about the magazine and her sexuality.  Since it seems like she's a stay at home mother, I thought the show would go the route of having her be sexually repressed and scandalized.  Instead, it's the more progressive sister who seems a bit more uptight about sex. 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Irlandesa

[peachmangosteen]

11 hours ago, Lola82 said:

The actress playing Joyce gives me serious Linda Cardellini vibes.

When I first saw the trailer I thought the same thing! She has her exact mouth lol.

I didn't realize the actress played Kitty in Elementary. She looks so different in this.

[tljgator]

Agree with all y'all -- really liking all of the characters. Love the sister. Love that the sister didn't belittle the porn folks, talked them like normal people, and made friends. Like that Joyce (and really, in addition to the clothes being 70s on-point, let's take a moment to appreciate the era-appropriateness of the name Joyce) is learning to extend her feminism to Bambi and other folks in the porn-workplace. Glad that they put the white-lady racism out there at the start instead of ignoring it. 

Even though it became a longstanding, time-honored joke (I only read the articles!), I have to think it was some kind of copyright issue that nobody mentioned the Pulitzer winning reporting, interviews, etc. done by Playboy writers, given the time frame.

Hope it stays this good moving forward! 

[Roccos Brother]

Watched the first two episodes, really liked the premise but I don't think I will continue. Hate to be the dissenting voice here, but by the second episode, the whole "back-and-forth tug-a-war between two schools of thought" concept was already feeling tedious and tired to me. I am also not a fan of shows that take place in a certain period, but choose to retain a quirky sensibility in its style of humor and storytelling that is very much contemporary. Dressing up the wardrobes and sets to look like the early 70's but then having characters with contemporary personalities, mannerisms, and lingo, doesn't really do it for me. I'm going to assume this is more the creators exercising liberty in reimagining what that decade could have been like, as opposed to being lazy, but either way it falls flat for me.

Edited March 20, 2022 by Roccos Brother

[gesundheit]

Loving this. And Ophelia Lovibond has got a solid American accent going! She's the reason I tuned in, but many more reasons to stay.

There is an element of "porno mag publishin' man gets this uptight, humorless feminist to lighten up" that was bugging me a bit, but I think given the number of excellent characters with varying points of view it's not as reductive a framework as it would be if it were a little more all-encompassing. 

I also like the 60s remnants in the design. It's so common in retro pieces like this that they forget that the early years of any decade are so similar to latter years of the prior decade. Like the way early-80s-set shows are so frequently just fully embedded into later-80s neons and fluorescents and shoulder pads and bangs claws.

I hope it stays this good and that Joyce gets some wins over Doug as well.

[Starchild]

23 hours ago, Roccos Brother said:

Watched the first two episodes, really liked the premise but I don't think I will continue. Hate to be the dissenting voice here, but by the second episode, the whole "back-and-forth tug-a-war between two schools of thought" concept was already feeling tedious and tired to me. I am also not a fan of shows that take place in a certain period, but choose to retain a quirky sensibility in its style of humor and storytelling that is very much contemporary. Dressing up the wardrobes and sets to look like the early 70's but then having characters with contemporary personalities, mannerisms, and lingo, doesn't really do it for me. I'm going to assume this is more the creators exercising liberty in reimagining what that decade could have been like, as opposed to being lazy, but either way it falls flat for me.

But the dongs! ;)

[Irlandesa]

7 hours ago, gesundheit said:

There is an element of "porno mag publishin' man gets this uptight, humorless feminist to lighten up" that was bugging me a bit, but I think given the number of excellent characters with varying points of view it's not as reductive a framework as it would be if it were a little more all-encompassing. 

I agree.  I felt that they were dancing around that line but managed not to cross it too much.  Doug's "you should get on board with this" comes from his experience as a successful magazine publisher and was usually related to the running of the launch/running of the magazine.

It was her sister and the other women who touched more on her loosening up in terms of her sexuality.

In other words, I was nervous that they'd have Doug tell Joyce she needs to get laid in order to establish who the characters are and then try to walk it back in later episodes when they want to round them out a bit.   I'm glad they didn't go there.

HBO Max, by the way, has a show called Hard about a woman who inherits a porn studio from her husband that she didn't know he ran.  It had a similar vibe of what it's like to have an office full of nude people. The HBO Max version is a Brazilian remake of a French show by the same name that I don't think is offered in the US.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Irlandesa

[Roccos Brother]

On 3/20/2022 at 8:31 PM, Starchild said:

But the dongs! ;)

I do love me some dongs... ^_^